Books

MARY ANN IN AUTUMN BY ARMISTEAD MAUPIN, RANDOM HOUSE, $32.95. San Francisco was captured in fading sunset by novelist Armistead Maupin three decades ago, when, pitching an idea for a daily serial to the San Francisco Chronicle featuring the tales of secretary Mary Ann Singleton and her best friend, gay gardener Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, he […]

DEAD MAN’S CHEST BY KERRY GREENWOOD, ALLEN & UNWIN, $22.99. Hot-blooded private detective Phryne Fisher and her bathing dress – “no back and hardly any front” – head to Queenscliff for a holiday. Along for the ride are her adopted daughters, bookish Jane and culinary Ruth, devoted maid Dot and hound Molly, who all take […]

IF YOU CAN’T STAND THE HEAT BY JUDY HORACEK, SCRIBE, $29.95. It’s impossible not to giggle at Judy Horacek’s smart yet dreamily inventive cartoons and illustrations, seen here in their technicolour glory in this seventh collection of Judy’s published sketches. The Australian artist’s observations on the absurdities of modern life and witty takes on environmental […]

KEHUA! BY FAY WELDON, ALLEN & UNWIN, $29.99. There’s a chaotic and, at times, decidedly dotty feel to British author Fay Weldon’s latest opus, which envelops you with all the friendliness of a warm coat as its plot unfolds, then pokes you in the ribs with sharp characterisation. Hovering in the air, above doorways and […]

MINDING FRANKIE BY MAEVE BINCHY, ORION, $35. Poor little Frankie! Her plucky mum, Stella, is unlikely to survive childbirth and wants to leave her in the care of her dad, Noel, a recovering alcoholic. It’s not ideal, but when you are a resident of St Jarlath’s Crescent, Dublin, there’s no need to fret – you’ll […]

SHALL WE DANCE? BY MAGGIE ALDERSON, MICHAEL JOSEPH, $32.95. Vintage fashion queen Loulou Landers has one very distressing concern, her daughter Theo. She’s 21 going on 14, selfish and arrogant. Luckily, Loulou has her ageing rock star mate, Ritchie Meredith, to lean on and her gay best friend, Keith, is throwing her a 50th birthday […]

HAND ME DOWN WORLD BY LLOYD JONES, TEXT PUBLISHING, $32.95. This is the story of a woman who is on an extraordinarily difficult, lonely journey. At first, her tale is told by the people she meets. There’s the randy truck driver, the kind group of hunters who smuggle her across the border and the woman […]

THEODORA: ACTRESS. EMPRESS. WHORE BY STELLA DUFFY, VIRAGO, $29.99. When her father dies, Theodora survives by performing for men on the stage of Constantinople’s Hippodrome and in bed. Yet she will rise from the backstage brothels of the Byzantine Empire to become one of the most powerful women in the world. Stella Duffy digs up […]

ON RADJI BEACH BY IAN W. SHAW, MACMILLAN AUSTRALIA, $34.99. Social historian Ian Shaw plunges into the jungle of one of Australia’s most heroic acts of women’s wartime service. When two units of city and country nurses boarded the Queen Mary in 1941 to tend soldiers serving in Malaya, duties included treating insect bites and […]

ITALIAN FOOD SAFARI BY MAEVE O’MEARA WITH GUY GROSSI, HARDIE GRANT, $55. The long-awaited next feast in SBS’s beautiful Food Safari series is a celebration of the Italian Australians who have kept their food traditions intact over generations. Travel again with Maeve O’Meara and legendary chef Guy Grossi as they spend time with Australia’s top […]